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Meet 22-year-old Cherry Pye (née Cheryl Bunterman), a pop star since she was fourteen-and about to attempt a comeback from her latest drug-and-alcohol disaster.

Now meet Cherry again: in the person of her "undercover stunt double," Ann DeLusia. Ann portrays Cherry whenever the singer is too "indisposed"-- meaning wasted -- to go out in public. And it is Ann-mistaken-for-Cherry who is kidnapped from a South Beach hotel by obsessed paparazzo Bang Abbott.

Now the challenge for Cherry's handlers (über-stage mother; horndog record producer; nipped, tucked, and Botoxed twin publicists; weed whacker-wielding bodyguard) is to rescue Ann while keeping her existence a secret from Cherry's public -- and from Cherry herself. The situation is more complicated than they know. Ann has had a bewitching encounter with Skink, the unhinged former governor of Florida living wild in a mangrove swamp, and now he's heading for Miami to find her . . .

Will Bang Abbott achieve his fantasy of a lucrative private photo session with Cherry Pye? Will Cherry sober up in time to lip-synch her way through her concert tour? Will Skink track down Ann DeLusia before Cherry's motley posse does? All will be revealed in this hilarious spin on life in the celebrity fast lane.

There is precious little innocence in Carl Hiaasen's moral universe, muses the Washington Post, "only gradients of venality." Longtime admirers of Hiaasen's fiction will relish the wicked wit, fast-moving plot, and delightfully odious cast of characters in this satirical send-up of celebrity culture. However, some critics found Hiaasen's subject matter passé in the wake of the latest entertainment industry scandals, and one objected to contrived characters and plot developments. Despite their complaints, reviewers generally enjoyed Star Island, and readers will also laugh at Hiaasen's "latest celebration of the grotesques and morally ambiguous citizens of his native Florida" (San Francisco Chronicle), even if the novel doesn't rate as one of his best.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Top customer reviews

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This is one of Carl Hiassen's better efforts in my opinion. His writing is fast paced and entertaining throughout with more thought put into the bad guys in making them more likable than in the past.

The story revolves around the pampered life of a young music star of limited skills on stage but great skills in the bedroom and in substance abuse. Her support team spend their lives catering to her every whim and when she is "indisposed", they use a body double to make the public think she is all ok and operating fine.

This way of life is successful until one of the photographers who follows the lives of the rich and famous in the hope of picking up photos of them in awkward situations gets wind of the body double ruse. He then starts scheming for his material gain.

Throw in the mix the bodyguard with a weed whacker for an arm and the demented Skink and you have a story that only Carl Hiaasen could imagine.

The humour is throughout the book and has that ring of realism to it, the characters are fleshed out quite well and I found myself enjoying the book a lot. Chemo the bodyguard is an interesting character, one I wish we could see again.

Since I'm always looking forward to another Hiaasen book, this one was a little bit of a disappointment. Taking a cue from the real world of Britney, Lindsay, and the the like, the plot surrounds the selfish and self-destructive habits of a pampered, young pop singer, her even more selfish parents and entourage, the body double who is seen out and about every time the singer goes into secret rehab, the usual assortment of strange characters (such as a giant of a body guard/keeper with a weed whacker instead of a hand), and the return of the beloved Skink. Even he is as off-kilter as the book since he's come out of the swamp and into Miami Beach to rescue the body double whom he encounters in the first few pages of the book. OK, but Hiaasen has written better.

I discovered this guy by accident and couldn't be happier! The characters in this particular book are absolutely nuts and the storyline hilarious. The "hero" is a particular standout. If you're looking for a fun book to read by the pool, take on vacation, or just read on the weekend this book is for you. By the way, his "yearling" series for the middle-school set are good too. I bought one by accident but ended up enjoying the heck out of it. By the way, I'm a 64 year old lady and I still liked the kid books!

Like some other authors, Hiaasen writes for entertainment. While this may not be great literature, it is very funny. It is a contemporary story about a young starlet, pushed into the public eye by her parents and a promoter, who has no real acting or singing talent but has a hot body and the right moves. The young women is also a zoned out druggie who looks for the next man to bonk. She is described as having the attention span of a gerbil (and probably the brain of a gnat). There is also her stand-in double who is needed when her handlers need someone sober, various members of her retinue including the bodyguard Chemo, an obsessed photographer who wants to document her life and death, and various other characters including Tyree.

All of these people together lead to some very interesting situations. The main setting is South Beach, with a few excursions farther afield. There is a saying about the best laid plans of mice and men. In this novel, many things go awry.

I bought this book a while ago and specifically saved it for a week when I had to take 4 flights -- I needed something to pass the time on the planes. As always, Hiaasen never fails to entertain, but he's done better.

Like most of Hiaasen's novels, the cast of characters are single-minded and even one dimensional. Everyone is driven by a single desire, typically either lust, greed or revenge. But unlike his previous works, I felt ambivalent to everyone. There were no clear-cut heroes or villains. For instance, for a while we're clearly supposed to feel sympathetic towards Bang Abbott; then he kidnaps someone, so our feelings for him change; and then after his captive is released, we go back to feeling sorry for him.

The inclusion of Skink felt unnecessary. In previous novels he played a central part in the plot; this time around he just causes trouble.

The last thing I'll mention is the kidnapping of Ann de Lucia. Because of Hiaasen's ambivalent attitude towards Abbott, it never felt like Ann was in any real danger -- it seemed like she could just walk away at any point. And the fact she didn't really made it difficult for me to root for her.

Despite these problems, Hiaasen had me laughing out loud many times. I'm sure fans of his will enjoy "Star Island," but also agree it's not his best novel.